1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system for managing road traffic information.
2. Description of the Related Art
As described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-298281, for example, there has been proposed a method for predicting the traffic volume in order to decrease the traffic congestion or the like.
According to this method, traffic volume patterns, referred to as accumulated traffic volume patterns, are stored in a memory on a daily basis. Then, with respect to a common time zone, such as from 10 o'clock to 11 o'clock, an accumulated traffic volume pattern which resembles the traffic volume pattern of the intended day for traffic volume prediction is searched for and extracted from the memory. Then, based on the extracted accumulated traffic volume pattern, the traffic volume within a predetermined time after a prediction point is predicted.
However, when comparison between the traffic volume pattern for the intended day and the accumulated traffic volume pattern is made only with respect to a common time zone, the accumulated traffic volume pattern to be extracted may bear less resemblance to the traffic volume pattern. Thus, the precision of prediction about the traffic volume is reduced, and the intended purpose, such as to decrease the traffic congestion, cannot be achieved effectively.